Rack fixture



June 28, 1932. R HART 7 1,864,817

RACK FIXTURE Filed July 24, 1931 INVENTOR R.R.HalL

Patented June 28, 1932 1,864,817

Ares rArT orrica ROY a. HART, or sen JOSE, CALIFORNIA RACK rIx rURE 1 Application filed July 24, 1931. Serial No. 552,836.

This invention relates to devices for disa flat plate 1 having holes 2whereby it may engageably supporting the handles of be secured against a wall at a convenient brooms, mops and the like to hold them in height by screws 3. The bracket is prefera vertical position. 'The fixture is of ably made of sheet metal and at its sides is 5 that type in which the holding engageformed with outwardly bentears at having ment of the handle is automatically had horizontally aligned circularv openings 5 with the downward pull of the latter by therethrough. reason of its own weight. I have found from The handle engaging or gripping member experience that the holding aperture to be of the device comprises a plate6 having op- 1o operative and effective must nearly fit the posed side lugs 7 at its vback edge which proc0 handle whensaid aperture lies in a plane at ject into and, are turnable in the holes 5.

right-angles to the'handle. It is not there- Since the ear' holes are a greater distance fore feasible to use a single aperture to enfrom the wall than the thickness of'the plate gage handles of any great range of diameter 6, said plate if swung up until it rests against 15 and yet to be commercially practicable for the wall-will then fit at a backward slope household use a single fixture should be capawhich prevents said plate from swinging out ble of taking care of any handles within the and down of itself. The downward movesize range likely to be encountered. ment of the plate a predetermined distance The major object of the present invention below a horizontal position is prevented by 50 therefore is to construct a single holder in stop shoulders 8 formed on the ears below 7 such a manner asto effectively engage and the holes 5 and adapted to engage the under hold handles of a number of different sizes. side of the plate 6, which is cut and shaped As another object of the invention I have so as to extend beyond the ears in front of constructed the. device so that a firm holding the same as shown.

25 grip on any handle is obtained without the i The plate 6 is provided with a relatively use of prongs, teeth or other sharp edged elel ng p rture 9 Open to one side of the plate ments which cut into soft wood handles and and Whose major axis is parallel to the bracknot only mark the same but cause splinters et plate. Said aperture is formed so that it to develop. I consists of a number of portions of definite- 30 A further object of the invention is to pro.- 1y diflerent and successively decreasing width duce a simple and inexpensive device and from its outer to its inner end as shown at yet one which will be exceedingly effective 10, 11 and 12. These different widths are in for the purpose for which it is designed. proportion to and somewhat larger than the These objects I accomplish by means of diameter of a number of handles of different 35 such structure and relative arrangement of sizes, so that any handle likely to be encounparts as will fully appear by a perusal of the tered may be engaged by the one fixture. In following specifications and claims. certain cases it is probable that a pair of In the drawing similar characters of refthese different widths of the opening would erence indicate corresponding parts in the be sufficient for all uses. 4 several views: i All the said different width portions of the Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my improved aperture are narrower at their outer than at fixture as mounted in place and supporting their inner ends, so that a handle when placed a broom handle. 1 in position is prevented from possibly slip- Fig. 2 is a transverse view of the fixture ping outwardly and tends to move between 45 as in operation and partly in section. and engage shoulders 13 formed at the junc- Fig. 3 is a perspective View of the device tion of'said different width portions. detached, As stated the holding action is more effec- Referring now more particularly to the tive if the plate is maintained as nearly horicharacters of reference on the drawing, the zontal or at right-angles to the handle as posdevice comprises a bracket which consists of sible. To attain this end the plate at the back end of the aperture is formed with a downward reversing or double bend as at 14, so that the front portion of the plate while parallel to the back portion is on a lower level as indicated by the dash lines L in Fig. 2; and the corresponding sides of the aperture throughout their extent are also on different levels. This is plainly shown in Fig. 2. As a result the plate itself may be disposed nearly horizontal while at the same time the opposed points of engagement of the sides of the aperture with the handle are vertically spaced to a greater extent as is necessary to give the frictional grip. An effective grip is thus obtained without the use of sharp edges, prongs or the like. The action is the same as if the plate were made of relatively thick metal, in which case the handle to be engaged on one side by the opening at the top edge of the blade and on the opposite side by the bottom edge of the opening. By my construction I am enabled to use relatively thin sheet metal in making the plate, as is desirable for economy of manufacture and other reasons. This thin plate is reinforced by a raised rib 15 which extends about said plate substantially symmetrical with the aperture.

In operation the plate 6 is raised to a horizontal position and the handle 16 of the broom, etc. is held in a vertical position and is moved toward said plate and into the aperture 9 through its open end or mouth. If the handle is comparatively large it can enter no further than the adjacent portion 10 of the aperture. The plate and handle are then released and an automatic holding grip on the handle is then instantly had. A medium sized or relatively small handle can pass into the aperture portions 11 or 12 before being released. The entrance of the handle to the aperture and to the different sized portions thereof is facilitated by the outwardly flaring sides 17 provided at the outer end of the aperture or the portion 10, and by the slope or flare on which the shoulders 13 are cut.

The stops 8 maintain the holding plate in a position convenient for initial manipulation. The upward folding of the plate not only moves the same out of the way when not in use but enables the fixture to be packed or sold in very compact and narrow cartons, etc.

From the foregoing description it will be readily seen that I have produced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of the invention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred construction of the device, still in practice such deviations from such detail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A handle holding fixture comprising a bracket adapted to be secured against a wall, ears projecting outwardly from the sides of the bracket, a handle-holding plate pivoted on the ears and projecting laterally beyond. the ears in front of the same, and stop shoulders formed with said ears to engage the under side of the plate when the latter is disposed at a predetermined angle to a horizontal plane.

52. A handle holding fixture comprising a bracket adapted to be secured against a wall, and a plate hinged onto the bracket for vertical swinging movement, said plate having a handle-engaging aperture cut therein and open to one side thereof, said aperture being of greater width than the diameter of a handle to be engaged; the plate being formed so that one edge only of the aperture is one. permanently different level than the other. 7 j

3. A handle holding fixture comprising a bracket adapted to be secured against a wall, and a plate hinged onto the bracket for vertical swinging movement, said plate having a handle-engaging aperture cut therein andopen to one side of the plate; said plate, when the aperture is engaged with a'handle, lying at a slight outward angle belowa horizontal plane, and being bent at the side opposite the open end of the aperture so that the front portion of the plate and the corresponding edge of the aperture are always on a lower level than the back portion of the plate and the corresponding edge of the aperture.

4. A handle holding fixture comprising a bracket adapted to be secured against a wall, and a plate hinged onto the bracket for vertical swingingmovement, said plate having a handle-engaging aperture cut therein and open to one side thereof, said aperture being formed as a series of portions of decreasing widths from the outer end of the aperture to the inner end thereof to receive handles of various diameters.

5. A device as in claim 4, in which the junctions of the different width portions of the aperture with each other, are formed as shoulders having a slope toward the smaller width portions to facilitate the entrance of a handle from one portion to another.

6. A handle holding fixture comprising a bracket adapted to be secured against a wall, and a plate hinged onto the bracket for vertical swinging movement, said plate having a handle-engaging aperture cut therein and open to one side thereof, said aperture being formed as pairs of straight edged portions of definitely different widths.

7 A device as in claim 6, in which each portion of the aperture is narrower at its cuter than its inner end.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

ROY R. HART. 

